Chichester artists explore Echoes of Earth in new exhibition

Taking part are Katherine Lawrie, Deborah Hochreutener, Frans De Leij, Heather Muir, Heidi Robinson, Jackie Lowe, Karen Saunders, Marie Monro, Mark Maidment, Mim McCann, Moira Cooper, Nancy Goodens, Paula Chuter-Baker, Sarah MacLaughlin, Sylvia Tomkinson, Teresa Poole, Valerie McCallum, Wendy Middleditch, Bec Hopkins, Ellie Philpot and Min Maude.

Spokeswoman Katherine Lawrie said: “The idea of exhibiting at the Oxmarket was mentioned as something that would be great to do, something that might give the group a new creative focus. We run the Artisan Gallery in North Street together as a cooperative. Each member displays work there usually with no connection to the exhibition next to them, sometimes creating work primarily to sell, although not the sole reason for any of us.

“So the idea of exhibiting together in a loosely themed exhibition was a great creative challenge, giving many of the group the impetuous to create something different and new from the work on display at our gallery.

“In the exhibition at the Oxmarket we will have work from 21 of our core artists and makers each inspired in their own way by the theme Echoes of Earth. One cannot avoid being influenced by the world we live on. Each piece of art in the exhibition has come about with influence, perhaps quite loosely, of echoes felt from the world. Echoes of Earth could be a call to attune ourselves to what the Earth is telling us through its patterns, silences and a closer look at the materials gleaned from it, urging us to listen to that emotion, whether it’s ancestral myths, symbolism or ecological.

“We will have work from four jewellers, Katherine Lawrie, Moira Cooper, Karen Saunders and Sylvia Tomkinson, glass artists Nancy Goodens and Heidi Robinson, ceramicists Mim McCann and Heather Muir, sculptor Deborah Hochreutener, painters, Min Maude, Frans de Leij, Paula Chuter-Baker, Ellie Philpott, Teresa Poole and Bec Hopkins and artist and lampshade designer Marie Monro, print makers Wendy Middleditch and Mark Maidment, textile artists Jackie Lowe and Valerie McCallum, surface decorator Sarah MacLaughlin each interpreting the title in their own specialist genre or media.

“Our group is made up of artists and makers, several whom have been working professionally in their chosen genre for decades, others who are returning to art after time out. We have artists who have had several previous careers before art or who are juggling life but the need to create is an important part of their life. For all of us, creating art is an urge that just can’t be ignored. Self-taught or formally educated, the creation of art is what brought us together, sharing what we create with the public to not only enable us to carry on creating by financing our lives, expressing our passions, it also helps to validate our work.”